(Burke, 2022)

TUTORIAL PAPER 1 TEMPLATE

ID of Student: G00391116
Article/Reading: The Teaching Council of Ireland. (2016). Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers.
Ireland: Teaching Council.

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

This article aims to critically assess the school's professional codes of conduct, roles, and
responsibilities. The Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers was published by the
Teaching Council in July 2016. The Teaching Council's job is to govern and enhance the
teaching profession. This entails setting and strengthening professional standards as well as
aiding in teachers' learning. The Council's work over the past decade demonstrates the
significance of its dual purpose in providing comprehensive and long-lasting support for
professional practice. The Teaching Council also notes that teachers are learners too, and
our learning also needs support. Teachers should also assume personal responsibility for
sustaining and improving the quality of their professional practice, as outlined in professional
development.

The Council operates under the assumption that regulation and advocacy are intertwined.
The guidelines outlined in the Code of Professional Conduct are what educators should do
at all stages of their careers. By promoting professional standards, offering regulation and
licensing, aiding with professional development, standing up for teachers' rights, and
encouraging teaching quality, the Irish Teaching Council represents teachers appropriately.

According to research undertaken by the Teaching Council, the teaching profession enjoys
the trust, and respect of the wider community. The Teaching Council believes each teacher
should be a reflective practitioner whose primary responsibility is to instruct students and
assist newly qualified teachers and student teachers. Whilst doing this teachers should
always uphold teaching standards of knowledge, skill, and competence.

In Ireland, the teaching profession has a long and distinguished background. All registered
teachers are subject to the Code of Professional Conduct. It serves three purposes. Firstly, it
serves as a guiding compass, by assisting teachers in upholding the honour and integrity of
the teaching profession. It also helps to make public perceptions and expectations of the
Irish teaching profession clearer. Thirdly, it has substantial legal standing and acts as a point
of reference for investigations and disciplinary procedures. As teachers, we continue to
follow the existing nationally set procedures for handling complaints and difficulties at school
level. Anyone can file a complaint about a registered teacher using the standards outlined in
the Teaching Council Acts of 2001–2015. Those conditions include but are not limited to,
breaking the Acts' specified rules, acting in a way that is inconsistent with the Code of

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 Professional Conduct for Teachers, engaging in professional misconduct, being unable to
teach because of a medical condition, having prior convictions, or failing to honour
regulations.

The code outlines four ethical values including respect, care, integrity, and trust. The four
ethical values mentioned previously underpin the standards of teaching, knowledge, skills,
competence, and conduct, and they serve as a guide for professional judgment and practice,
reflecting the complexity and variety of teaching.

In conclusion, the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers is there to offer a pathway and
guidance to teachers for us to follow an ethical and professional career. It also offers the
wider public the opportunity to view what they should expect from professional teachers, and
it offers a reference point for legal matters.

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION [2 x A4 pages]

Upon reading the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers, I believe it gives a concise
account of what is expected of teachers in schools today, and what others should expect
from them. As I agree with most of the points in the document, I do believe that there could
be more clarity in some areas. Firstly, I will discuss the points I am in agreement with, and
how teachers should try their upmost to promote these in their classroom. In section one part
1.2, I believe teachers should always try to embrace the uniqueness, individuality, and
specific needs of students. By embracing uniqueness, individuality and the specific needs of
student teachers can create a safe learning environment where students can be themselves,
and by creating this environment we can open doors for students to come and openly
communicate their feelings, ‘We need to help students not only to survive but also to thrive
and flourish at third level, especially given the rising rates of mental health issues’, (Burke,
2022). Secondly, in section 1 part 1.5, it states we should try to establish a level of mutual
trust and respect, and this ties in nicely with embracing uniqueness, individuality, and the
specific needs of students, as by embracing everyone we gain trust and respect within our
classroom and the wider community. For the school to have a supportive learning
environment it is important for everyone to feel comfortable, and this comfortability comes
from the teachers respecting each other and then the students being able to trust their
teachers. Within the classroom, it is important for the students to trust the teacher, as trust
can lead to an open classroom where discussions and thinking are encouraged, ‘A child who
trusts that she will be treated with respect and kindness is far more likely to make these
kinds of revelations than a child who anticipates ridicule. The need for trust may be
especially great in cases where students are asked to consider and discuss topics or ideas
that are bound to generate serious contention.’, (Rice, S. (2006). My third and final section
that I am in particular agreement with is section six part 6.1, where it states we should work
with our colleagues in the interest of sharing, developing,
and supporting good practice. We can apply this in schools by discussing with our
colleagues the best ways to work with students in order for the students to reach their
potential. We can also apply this statement in another way by doing cross curricular projects.
By discussing with the teachers from other subjects you can create a project for student that
involves a mixture of subjects, by having cross curricular activities it makes it easier for
students to link skills and knowledge, as it states in section six part 6.1, it will create the
highest quality of educational experiences for students.

In this section I will talk about the areas where I believe The Code of Professional Conduct

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 for Teachers could be clearer. Upon inspection I noticed that nowhere in the document do
the council give an example of a situation or an example of a solution to a simple, leaving it
completely to your own discretion. I think examples would make situations and boundaries
clearer for people.
In section 2 part 2.5, it states when we are in the classroom that we should leave our private
life problems at the door before entering the classroom, but it isn’t always this easy. I believe
that yes, we should not let it affect how we treat our peers and students, but at the same
time we should not bottle up our emotions for the school day as that is not healthy. As
discussed in the above paragraph the council state in section one part 1.2 that we should
embrace the specific needs of students and I believe the same should apply to teachers as
we to are only human. We can also look at this from the other way around that maybe we
should leave work at work, and not take it home, but this does not always work as we are
expected to correct tests and create content for class time, and this can affect your social
life, which is important for mental health, ‘A British study found our “always on” work culture
is linked to cardiovascular disease, and working from home was found to be far more
stressful than being at work. Heart monitors showed more than half of the study’s 550 city
workers were more stressed at home than at work due to thinking about their job.’, (Daily
Telegraph, 2017). In section three part 3.5 it states we should report incidents that could
impact a student, my issue with this statement is where do you draw the line, does this
statement become null as soon as they leave the school gates, or should you report
something you see them doing outside of school as well. An example of situations could be
given by the Teaching Council to give teachers a gauge where and where not to get involved
with students. My final issue with the Code of Conduct is that it is very text heavy, and part of
our teacher training is to create UDL friendly work, but the people who govern the teachers
don’t have UDL friendly documents to view is a bit contradictory. I do not by any means
suggest putting loads of images, but I recommend they should add more graphs and
illustrations, because as it stands they only have one image in the entire document,
according to a research by Mayer and Anderson (1991), pupils who got both written and
visual explanations outperformed those who only received textual explanations on
comprehension exams.

To conclude my paper, my opinion is that The Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers is
a very useful tool for teachers and students teachers, as if you have a query about a
situation the document should give you the basis to an answer. The document is very
informative and will always keep you on the right path throughout your career, while also
aiding those in the wider community and answering any questions they might have, giving
everyone common ground.

3. LIST OF REFERENCES

 Rice, S. (2006). The Educational Significance of Trust. Philosophy of Education

Yearbook
 Burke, J. (2022). How to Flourish in Third Level Education.
 Don’t take work home. (2017, February 21). Daily Telegraph, The (Sydney)
 Mayer, R. E., & Anderson, R. B. (1991). Animations need narrations: An
experimental test of a dual-coding hypothesis. Journal of Educational Psychology
 Teaching-Council. (2016).Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024